Automated sales calls, robo-calls, or “spam” calls have become a frequent and persistent nuisance for many people. With the ubiquity of personal cellular phones, many users are subjected to automated calls at nearly any time of day and in nearly any place or situation. While blocking a number prevents receiving more calls from the blocked number, entities that make large quantities of sales calls use a multitude of source numbers for their automated call efforts. Further strategies used by automated calling entities include “spoofing” numbers to avoid blocked call lists.
While some entities that make automated calls provide ways to unsubscribe from associated call lists, in many cases the process requires that the recipient of the call answer the call, listen to an automated message for a potentially significant amount of time, and then perform an action, such as saying the word “unsubscribe” when the automated call prompts the recipient to do so. Additionally, automated call recipients may be required to navigate audio-based menus of options by pressing or saying numbers or keywords or they may be placed on hold or otherwise caused to wait to be able to unsubscribe from the call list, thereby further wasting the recipient's time.